Justice For Jane: Transgender 16 year old Girl Incarcerated As Adult Without Charges

In April, a sixteen year old African American transgender girl (known as Jane Doe) alleged to be too violent by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) was sent to Connecticut’s York Correctional Institution for adults. She was sent there without a criminal charge or conviction after an altercation that allegedly injured a DCF worker. She was also held in solitary confinement for two weeks for up to 22 to 23 hours per day in the adult institution until the court ruled on where to place here. Because of advocacy on her behalf, the court placed her in a women’s adult facility, instead of a men’s adult facility–which is normally what would have happened.

On Wednesday, April 14, Jane was moved from the mental health unit of the York Correctional Institution but the fact still remains that she is in an adult facility as a minor with many needs. Jane had already experienced abuse and trauma as most youth do prior to entering the DCF system. Also, the worker that was allegedly injured according to DCF accounts was able to fill out a report thirty minutes after the incident. It just doesn’t seem like the injuries could have been that extreme.

According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, “Injustice at Every Turn,” transgender women of color were particularly vulnerable to sexual assault in jail/prison. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Black MTF respondents reported being sexually assaulted by either another inmate or a staff member in jail/prison. It is still horrific. How can this particular youth be any different than any other youth in the DCF system? Why should she have been transferred to an adult system and not other youth that display the exact same behavior in the DCF system?

Unfortunately, we know this is the rule rather than the exception when it comes to trans women of color. We’ve seen this happen far too often, most recently with Ce Ce McDonald. Even more dismaying in Jane Doe’s case is that she doesn’t have a lot of family to advocate for her.